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M&T Bank's disclosure that it is in settlement talks with the Justice Department for not complying with underwriting guidelines on FHA loans has renewed fears that more lenders will be targeted.
August 7 -
Federal judges have dismissed two lawsuits that accused Wells Fargo of reverse-redlining in Los Angeles and Cook County, Ill., Reuters reported.
July 20 -
An "administrative error" by M&T Bank is blamed for a delinquent debt service payment from Beacon, N.Y., but the mistake did not impact the city's credit rating.
July 7
M&T Bank has agreed to pay $485,000 and change its lending policies to settle a lawsuit that accused the Buffalo, N.Y., company of racial discrimination in making mortgage loans.
The Fair Housing Justice Center and nine minority plaintiffs had sued the $97 billion-asset M&T in February, claiming the bank steered minority applicants in New York into loans they could not afford and made lending decisions based on race.
M&T's
M&T will adopt a policy that prohibits steering and will post the revised policy on its website. M&T will also hire a consultant to revise how it trains for lenders on fair housing and fair lending laws.
M&T also agreed to have its loan officers provide written estimates to loan applicants that include the purchase price, interest rates and down payment amounts.
"M&T Bank is deeply committed to fair housing and fair lending, and has received the highest possible rating from its regulators in Community Reinvestment Act compliance since 1989," the bank said in a statement included in the release.
"All lenders should understand that compliance with fair housing and fair lending laws goes beyond Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) ratings and approvals by regulators," Fred Freiberg, the Fair Housing Justice Center's executive director, said in the release.
